May 19, 2011

What: GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt will give the commencement address as the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) awards bachelor’s degrees to 1,161 graduating students. Immelt and Rodney Adkins, senior vice president of IBM Systems and Technology Group, will both receive honorary degrees at the ceremony.

When: Monday, May 23. Procession begins at 12:30 p.m., followed by ceremony at 1 p.m.

UMBC has benefitted from deepening relationships with General Electric and IBM. In 2007, UMBC received the “GE Partnership Award” for being a top producer of GE talent. The company’s leadership trainee programs actively recruit on campus, and UMBC students and graduates have had opportunities in multiple GE business units to work as interns and employees. UMBC researchers are also collaborating with the GE Healthcare Maternal and Infant Care group on a project funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop a non-contact optical sensor for neonatal monitoring.

IBM actively recruits UMBC students and graduates for both internships and full-time positions. IBM partnered with UMBC to establish the Multicore Computing Center (MC2), which allows UMBC faculty and students to conduct supercomputing research related to aerospace/defense, financial services, medical imaging and weather/climate change prediction.

About the honorary degree recipients:

Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric, was recently appointed chair of President Barack Obama’s new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He will receive an honorary doctor of public service degree for his innovative leadership of a company that supports global development through a focus on emerging markets and environmental solutions.

Rodney C. Adkins, Senior Vice President, IBM Systems and Technology Group, will receive an honorary doctor of science degree for his work advancing technology. The degree recognizes in particular Adkins’ role creating the first wave of personal computers, and later, laptop computers.